Fame/Reputation (the She-Devil): not only Sonja is one of the few warrior women of the Hyborian Age, she's also very recognizable

Many Suitors: many have tried to best Sonja and get her in their beds, the survivors are far less numerous

Obsession (revenge): for a long time Sonja's voyages were bent to find the man who raped her and butchered her family

Temper: while not a berserker, Sonja has avery hot and mercurial temper

The Hand of Scatach: the Red Godess saved and empowered Sonja, but her favour came with many strings attached

Sonja has the distinct honor of being one of the few character added to the Conan mythos from a secondary author, that has grown into a fully recognizable icon (thanks in no small part to her [in]famous "armor").

not much to say about the build, Sonja cover the opposite end of the combat spectrum respect to Conan, she's an agile scrapper instead of a walking tank. Still she can dish out some heavy damage by dual wielding.

I choose to downplay her charisma a little because Sonja's temper tend to get the best of her.

I prefered to use a Involuntary Transformation effect, instead of a Power Loss simply because the origin of Sonja abilities were a little cloudy, in a issue of "Savage Sword" it was stated that Scatach simply removed some blocks from Sonja's body and mind and thus the bulk of those skills were inborn.

about the equipment, Sonja is much more constant than Conan (a necessity with a visual medium), she usually pack a sword and dagger alongside her "armor". About that, I choose to gave her the weak point drawback, instead of any other kind, because the lack of protection never seemed to be an issue on panel.

By the Sword and Spell continues with a double update of two of my favorite characters ever.

Fafhrd the RedEven a duke must butter up a king, and demigods the gods. We butter no one. We go our own way, chasing our own adventures -- and our own follies. Better freedom and a chilly road than a warm hearth and servitude

Debt (to Ningauble of the Seven Eyes): not along after their arrival in Lankhmar both Fafhrd and the Mouser looked for the help and patronage of two rival sorcerers: Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face. As a result they became embroiled with the sorcerers rivalry for many years

Enemies (many): the two collected dozens upon dozens of powerful enemies over the years, including ppowerful wizards, an entire civilization of rats and the incarnation of Death itself

Fame/Reputation (Hero, Thief and Mercenary): Fafhrd and the Mouser are likely the most notorious pair of adventurers in the world of Newhon

Stubborn: Fafhrd can be horribly bull-headed and stubborn sometimes, which often is the source of many of his troubles

Debt (to Sheelba of the Eyeless Face): not along after their arrival in Lankhmar both Fafhrd and the Mouser looked for the help and patronage of two rival sorcerers: Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face. As a result they became embroiled with the sorcerers rivalry for many years

Enemies (many): the two collected dozens upon dozens of powerful enemies over the years, including ppowerful wizards, an entire civilization of rats and the incarnation of Death itself

Fame/Reputation (Hero, Thief and Mercenary): Fafhrd and the Mouser are likely the most notorious pair of adventurers in the world of Newhon

Reckless: the Mouser tend to be quite reckless and is prone to hubris, which is another major source of trouble

not much to say in the way of how these two are built: Fafhrd is pretty much Conan-light, while the Mouser is the archetype of the D&D thief. The character are obviously meant to work as a team covering each other lackings, which means that the rules of teamwork should be abused by the players.

just one more note, in the incipit to his owrks Leiber often described the pair as the "greatest swrodsmen of every universe real or fictional", I decided to ignore that line for obvious reasons (PL20 swordsmen doesn't sound good to me) also I always pictured Newhon as alower PL world than the Hyborian Age so I lowered their PLs under Conan and Sonja. Probably a mixed setting version should have all of them as equals.

For a character who's more public domain available, you could stat up Kull of Atlantis. Basically Conan's thematic predecessor, an earlier barbarian hero created by Robert E. Howard, vaguely inhabiting the same continuity but set thousands of years earlier. He's like a more philosophical Conan from what I can tell.

Beyond that, I'm afraid my interests in fantasy literature are mostly orientated towards Tolkien and his various successors in the field of high fantasy.

Narsil wrote:For a character who's more public domain available, you could stat up Kull of Atlantis. Basically Conan's thematic predecessor, an earlier barbarian hero created by Robert E. Howard, vaguely inhabiting the same continuity but set thousands of years earlier. He's like a more philosophical Conan from what I can tell.

Beyond that, I'm afraid my interests in fantasy literature are mostly orientated towards Tolkien and his various successors in the field of high fantasy.

Same as me, I usually gravite more toward Tolkien than Howard (mostly for philosophical reasons). My big gripe about Kull of Valusia is that he's basicly the same as Conan - of whom he's an ancestor - also my knowledge of the character is limited to the awful movie with Kevin Sorbo.Still this gives me an idea.

Fame (the White Wolf): Geralt is perhaps the most famous (and recognizable) Witcher alive

Prejudice (Witcher): although Witcher had accomplished many great deeds, both nobles and commoneers are distrustful of them

Secret (Witchers' Lore): many powerful individual looks for a way to stole the Witchers' secrets, especially their mutagens and the means to produce them

Too Many Ladies: Geralt's former lovers seem to number in the dozens (or even scores) and some are quite jealous and/or powerful

well, this is my last heroic fantasy build for the moment, more are in the works but they should take a me a little while. A word of advice I'm only familiar with the videogame version of the Witcher, so this build might be very inaccurate, in this case I'm sorry.

overall Geralt is a very simple build, in terms of physical abilities he's pretty much Captain America in a fantasy setting. Aside from that not much to say he hit like a bastard, knew a couple of things about magic, occasionallly dabbles in alchemy and is horribly recognizable.

I decided not to give Geralt a fully albino drawback like I did with Elric because it seem to rarely be a factor in his life (probably thanks to his Witcher's regenerative abilities), and more of a "fashion choice" from the original author.

a little equipment note, the Witcher's swords are usually wielded with both hands, I'm not sure if it's possible even for a fully powered Witcher (aka one using some mutagen) to use them in a one handed grip.

Last edited by Woodclaw on Sat Jan 12, 2013 9:20 am, edited 3 times in total.

Elric seems to have been responsible for creating several entire generations of characters who can be described in terms as 'long white haired fantasy anti-hero/villain in a society that doesn't quite like him very much, mixing in swordplay and dark magic'. Each one with their given twist. Drizzt dual-wields and has a panther, Raistlin doesn't do much on the swordplay side at all and focuses purely on magic, Anomander Rake is seven feet tall and made of pure badarse, and Geralt of Rivia has the combined successful libido of James Bond and Captain Kirk. With about as much womanising as the former, and about as much care for his love interest's species as the latter.